ABAKO or Association des Bakongo was a cultural and political organization, headed by Joseph Kasavabu, which emerged in the late 1950s as vocal opponent of Belgian colonial rule in what today is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Additionally the organization served as the major ethno-religious organization for the Bakongo and became closely intertwined the Kimbanguist Church which was extremely popular in the lower Congo. Joseph Kasa Vubu (c. ... The area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo was populated as early as 10,000 years ago and settled in the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. by Bantus from present-day Nigeria. ... The Bakongo people (aka. ... The Kimbanguist Church is the largest independent African church and the first to be admitted (in 1969) to the World Council of Churches. ...

Because of its long exposure to the West and rich heritage of messianic unrest, the lower Congo region, homeland of the Kongo people, was the first area to emerge as a focal point of militantly anti-Belgian sentiment and activity. ABAKO and Kasavubu spearheaded ethnic nationalism there and in 1956 issued a manifesto calling for immediate independence. The move came about as a response to a far more conciliatory statement by a group of non-Kongo intellectuals identified with the editorial committee of a Léopoldville newspaper, Conscience Africaine. In it they gave their full endorsement to the ideas set forth by Professor A.A.J. Van Bilsen in his newly published Thirty-Year Plan for the Political Emancipation of Belgian Africa. Far more impatient in tone and radical in its objectives, the ABAKO manifesto stated: "Rather than postponing emancipation for another thirty years, we should be granted self-government today." For alternative meanings for The West in the United States, see the U.S. West and American West. ... Kimbanguism (The Church of Christ on Earth) is a branch of Christianity founded by Simon Kimbangu in what was then the Belgium Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). ... The Bakongo people (aka. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Kinshasa - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... Antoine Van Bilsen proposed a thirty-year plan for creating an Independent Congo (1955). ...

The metamorphosis of ABAKO into a major vehicle of anticolonial protest unleashed considerable unrest throughout the lower Congo. In the capital city, the party emerged as the dominant force: the urban elections of December 1957 gave ABAKO candidates 133 communal council seats out a total of 170, thus vesting unfettered control of the African communes in the hands of the partisans of "complete independence." While the ABAKO victory at the polls greatly strengthened its bargaining position vis-à-vis the administration, in the countryside its local sections quickly proliferated, creating a de facto power structure almost entirely beyond the control of the colonial civil servants. In Léopoldville, meanwhile, the situation was rapidly getting out of hand. The turning point came on January 4, 1959, when Belgian administrators took the fatal step of dispersing a large crowd of ABAKO supporters gathered to attend a political meeting. Widespread rioting throughout the city immediately followed, resulting in the wholesale plunder of European property. When order was finally restored, at the price of an exceedingly brutal repression, forty-nine Congolese were officially reported killed and 101 wounded. A week later, on January 13, the Belgian government formally recognized independence as the ultimate goal of its policies. "It is our firm intention," King Baudouin I solemnly announced, "without undue procrastination, but without fatal haste, to lead the Congolese forward to independence in prosperity and peace." Although no precise date was set for independence, the tide of nationalist sentiment could not be stemmed. A year later, the Belgian Congo would be hurtling toward independence. Jump to: navigation, search 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... World map showing location of Africa A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second_largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1959 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Became King: July 16, 1951 Predecessor: Léopold III Date of Birth: September 7th, 1930 Place of Birth: Kasteel, Belgium Date of Death: July 31st, 1993 Place of Death: Motril, Spain Successor: Albert II King Baudouin, (also spelled Boudewijn, Balduin or Baldwin) born Albert Charles Léopold Axel Marie Gustave... On November 15, 1908, King Leopold II of Belgium formally relinquished personal control of the Congo Free State and the renamed Belgian Congo came under the administration of the Belgian parliament, a system which lasted until independence was granted in 1960. ...

Its anti-Belgian orientation notwithstanding, ABAKO was first and foremost a Kongo movement. Its concentration on the past splendors of the Kongo Kingdom and on the cultural values inherent in the Kikongo language was entirely consonant with its proclaimed objective of working toward the reconstruction of the Kongo polity, and, at one point, of advocating secession as the quickest way of achieving this all-consuming goal. Thus, while inspiring other groups of Africans to emulate its demands for immediate independence, another consequence of ABAKO militancy was to structure political competition along ethnic lines. Kongo elements in Léopoldville came into conflict with a group of Lingala-speaking upriver people; in 1959 and 1960, the rivalry became a major trial of strength between the forces of ethno-regionalism and the claims of territorial nationalism. The Kongo Empire was an African kingdom located in southwest Africa in what are now northern Angola, Cabinda, Republic of the Congo, and the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ... Lingala is a Bantu language spoken throughout the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa) and a large part of the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), as well as to some degree in Angola and the Central African Republic. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...